2023-08-16 21:00:18
Sam Altman, in Sun Valley (Idaho, United States), July 10, 2023. DREW ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES VIA AFP
It must be characteristic of the giants of Silicon Valley to want to leave their mark in the history of humanity, to believe themselves to have a messianic vocation. Sam Altman is no exception to this rule. Co-founder and director of OpenAI, he is at the head of the company which created ChatGPT, this artificial intelligence software capable of giving birth to texts in natural languages, according to the requests addressed to it.
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Prized by students, who use it to write their essays, used by developers to reduce their working time, ChatGPT nevertheless raises concerns. Given its efficiency and ability to gain precision, it threatens to replace many humans in their profession.
And now, the same Sam Altman, 38, a native of Chicago, briefly passed by Stanford University (California), presents himself as the bulwark against the dangers of artificial intelligence, through another project − called Worldcoin −, of which it is very difficult to understand the main purpose. This is both for the company to launch a new cryptocurrency and, ultimately, to be able to create a universal basic income in order to offset the impact of new technologies.
Investigations
The very nature of society is itself convoluted: here an entity dedicated not to generating profits, there another which will have to generate turnover. But this is not the most problematic. To carry out its project, Worldcoin has also designed a product, the Orb, a cylindrical object the size of a bowling ball, thanks to which it is possible to capture the iris of anyone wishing to subscribe. to the services of Worldcoin and which must thus guarantee the identity of the holders of this new cryptocurrency. A form of digital passport.
The result of three years of work, the company officially launched its activity on Monday July 24, but it is already making headlines. In Kenya, where she offered to join her program for a reward of around 45 euros, thousands of people showed up to have their irises scanned… before the government ended the operation on Wednesday August 2 , while waiting to be able to establish “the legality of the activities [de Worldcoin], the security and protection of the data collected, as well as how the collectors intend to use the data”.
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Other supervisory authorities have looked into the activities of Worldcoin. The National Commission for Computing and Liberties, in France, for example, joined forces with its Bavarian counterparts, who had already taken up this dossier. Inquiries are also being launched in the UK by the Information Commissioner’s Office. In the United States, Worldcoin is simply not authorized to offer its cryptocurrency.
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